Sumo’s newest rankings, which were released Monday, are sure to have excited fans who enjoy following the careers of up-and-coming talent.
Several prospects that have long been marked for greatness achieved new career highs on the Nagoya tournament banzuke, with a few of the more well-known set to debut in the sport’s top two divisions in July.
That group includes a pair of disciples of former yokozuna Hakuho who got new shikona (ring names) to go along with their promotions.
2021 college yokozuna Kawazoe’s amateur achievements earned him a professional sumo starting point in the sport’s third highest (makushita) division last September, and the compact powerhouse has subsequently inched his way up to the salaried ranks over the course of five tournaments.
Now a fully fledged sekitori, Kawazoe will henceforth be known as Kiho, with the first character in his new name reflecting hopes for a luminous and brilliant career.
Although a noble target, it’s also certain to be a challenge difficult to realize.
While the 24-year-old shone throughout his time in collegiate sumo, Kiho stands just 166 centimeters tall, making him by far the smallest man in the upper echelons of ōzumo, where he'll face an uphill struggle to make the same kind of impact he did as an amateur.
By contrast, one of Kiho’s fellow promotees is a full 25 cm taller and weighs almost 50 kilograms more.
He’s also the sumo world’s first ever Ukrainian sekitori.
At 26 years old, Shishi (real name Sergey Sokolovsky) has already entered what is normally considered the prime age for sumo wrestlers, and will likely need to find immediate success in the jūryō division if he hopes to rise to the top of the sport.
Ikazuchi stable, which was revived under former komusubi Kakizoe earlier this year, has been heavily promoting its first ever sekitori on social media over the past few weeks.
In one of the stable’s videos, Shishi displayed impressive calligraphy skills while creating his first batch of tegata — autographed handprints made by wrestlers in the jūryō and makuuchi divisions — but the design of his first keshō-mawashi (ceremonial belt) is what many are anticipating most.
In 2016, while still an amateur, Sokolovsky wore a Ukraine-themed ceremonial apron at a tournament in Lviv, and it would be a surprise if elements of his native country aren’t also part of the design for his first professional keshō-mawashi.
Further up the rankings, former Chuo University standout Gonoyama makes his top-tier debut after a dominating jūryō division-winning effort in May.
The Osaka native is also a product of the famed sumo program at Saitama Sakae high school, and has been making a name for himself on the national stage since he was a young child.
Unfortunately for Gonoyama, his arrival in the sport’s top division has been overshadowed by a similar promotion for the man he beat twice to claim the jūryō title last time out.
Miyagino stable’s other promotee with a new moniker is the sensational youngster Ochiai, whose 14-1 record in jūryō in May resulted in the rare achievement of promotion to sumo’s top tier while still a teenager.
It’s been a red-hot six months for the former high school and corporate yokozuna who only made his professional debut in January.
Ochiai, like stablemate Kawazoe, got a new name to mark the occasion.
While some of the kanji may be different, Ochiai’s new shikona — Hakuoho — is close enough to that of his legendary stablemaster as to leave no doubts about how the former yokozuna, now known as Miyagino, feels about his young star.
Already dubbed the “Monster of the Reiwa Era,” Hakuoho is just the latest in a long line of young Japanese athletes to receive massive media attention.
Unlike many of those prematurely feted teens however, the pressure doesn’t appear to be negatively affecting Miyagino stable’s newest star.
The Tottori Prefecture native has breezed through every sumo obstacle to date with a smile on his face, and has a fiercely aggressive style in the ring.
The big question, though, is whether he can maintain that level of performance as he approaches sumo’s peak.
The top half of the makuuchi division is a world apart, a place where the speed and power of veteran rikishi have exposed the shortcomings of even the most promising young stars.
Hakuoho isn’t there just yet though, and his slate of opponents in July won’t be massively different from those that he ran roughshod over in May.
Odds are good that the 19-year-old will continue his meteoric rise in Nagoya and could even be in the title race heading into the final straight.
If that happens, and Terunofuji remains in good health, it sets up the mouthwatering possibility of the 31-year-old yokozuna taking on a man over a decade younger in a battle for the Emperor’s Cup.
It would be the dream matchup for sumo fans, but more realistic is the expectation that Hakuoho will hover somewhere around 10 or 11 wins in July and, like his stablemaster, claim a special prize in his makuuchi debut.
It’s a scenario that the teen star has openly spoken about since earning a promotion to sumo’s top tier.
That ability to calmly discuss levels of excellence as if they were just part of a normal progression speaks volumes about Hakuoho’s steely confidence.
Such mental fortitude — along with a powerful physique that is perfectly suited to sumo, a trademark tightly controlled aggression inside the ring, and an ability to fight both on and off the belt — make Hakuoho the most exciting member of an excellent group of makuuchi and jūryō division debutants in Nagoya.
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